Music Blogs

It's that time of year when suddenly it's quite hot outside. The sun isn't just a bright, yellow thing in the sky, but a major force making us sweat. A few musicians have seen to it that they are naturally associated with the Summer Season. While none of them have been brazen enough to call themselves Don "Summer" Henley, they've established themselves either with songs or videos that make them synonymous with beachfront property and surfboards. Much like how the power of this blog has made me synonymous with various forms of idiocy. We take what we can get! And Donna Summer is a girl!

10) Don Henley: He wrote "Boys Of Summer" and it was a big hit in the wintertime, much like the video where Henley had to pretend he was cold and shivering when everyone knows the guy is originally from Texas and moved to Los Angeles, where snow is illegal. I'd venture that if anyone has been one of the boys of summer it would be this opportunistic songwriter. He had a nose for choosing the winning side.

9) Jackson Browne: Southern California singer-songwriters all have an automatic advantage because you associate them with their weather. You take one look at Jackson Browne and you're immediately transported to an outdoor amphitheater where he's singing "Running On Empty" and the entire world is spread out on the "Great Lawn" somewhere throwing a Frisbee while Jackson recounts his existential woes. No one even remembers the decade he spent singing about foreign policy.

8) Chris Isaak: You virtually hear the summer wind sweeping through the lonely tremolo-ed guitars as Isaak moans about lost love and romance dashed. You figure he must spend a mint on hairspray products to keep that hair in place. Sure, he looks like a loner, but he's got to have someone from Baywatch hanging around him, no?

7) Nelly: Perhaps the only certified genius on this list for noting that when it's hot, it's a good thing to take off your clothes. Nelly may not be the rising star he once was, but he will always be someone we look to when need to know which way the wind blows. And when we need to borrow a band-aid.

6) Frankie Avalon: Frankie Avalon was once looked upon as someone with the star power of, say, Clay Aiken, or, uh, Justin Timberlake. He starred with Annette Funicello, who was like the Christina Aguilera of her day but not really, in "Beach" themed movies such as Beach Party and Beach Blanket Bingo. Back then teens could safely sit on the beach and not worry about contaminated medical waste washing up to shore and ruining their good time. No one's dog was ever put to sleep and the tooth fairy didn't have to cut back on rewards due to an economic recession. It was paradise.

5) Sammy Hagar: Sammy departed from Van Halen only to find himself selling what? Tequila? That and a good time all the time. Which we're not sure if that good time includes listening to Sammy's music. Sammy has a propensity for singing in an agitated tone that isn't quite as relaxing as, say, Sammy Davis, Jr. to use one potent Sammy example. However, he always seems to be on the beach somewhere and if I had his money, well, I sure wouldn't be doing this!

4) Sly Stone: "Hot Fun In The Summertime" is the obvious calling card here. But just about all of Sly Stone's music has the sound of people marching through the hot, sweaty streets looking for a hose to cool off with. You can taste the Iced Tea and Lemonade coming through those bass lines. No Splenda or Nutrasweet crap either! Pure sugar!

3) Jimmy Buffett: Here's the guy who turned vacationing into a full-time act. That he's actually a workaholic driven to market his own brand of anything just makes the whole endeavor that much more absurd. Buffett knows it, too. He takes on the world with a bemused incredulity that pretty much says, if you're going to accept this, I'm going to bring it. Buffett's like the coleslaw they bring you with the cheeseburger deluxe. It's always offered. And someone eats it.

2) Dick Dale: How could we not put the King of the Surf Guitar on this list? Well, I'm sure I've forgotten other obvious summer folks and the list was kept to ten, after all, and I wanted to represent from various precincts. Despite health setbacks, Dale continues to tour. At 72, he has curtailed his surfing.

1) Brian Wilson: The Beach Boys? Hello! Of course, Brian Wilson would top this list. In some respects, the man invented summer. Ask an older person. People who lived through the 1930s stood in bread lines in the freezing cold. Moving to Florida was strictly for old folks. And widespread misery was considered fashionable and cool. Brian Wilson changed all this by suggesting that everyone should have an ocean. And while it was only one man's dream, it became a reality for many, as California was suddenly deluged with applicants hoping to live in paradise. The state has since filed for bankruptcy.